Bom-Wrapper

The Memorial Candle Program has been designed to help offset the costs associated with the hosting this Tribute Website in perpetuity. Through the lighting of a memorial candle, your thoughtful gesture will be recorded in the Book of Memories and the proceeds will go directly towards helping ensure that the family and friends of Peter Kupele can continue to memorialize, re-visit, interact with each other and enhance this tribute for future generations.

Thank you.

Cancel
Select Candle
Peter Kupele
In Memory of
Peter Kaihe
Kupele
1931 - 2017
Click above to light a memorial candle.

The lighting of a Memorial Candle not only provides a gesture of sympathy and support to the immediate family during their time of need but also provides the gift of extending the Book of Memories for future generations.

Leave a condolence

Condolences

Condolence From: Joe O'Brien
Condolence:
I was so sorry to learn of the passing of a man I'd lost touch with many years ago. I'm not sure if Pete adopted us, or we adopted him, but he was like a member of our family for many years after we moved to Hawaii in 1959.

We lived in the heart of Waikiki, and Pete was like an older brother to me, he brought such fun and life to all of us. He was such an entertainer, in fact he worked as an exotic dancer at the Forbidden City night club, dancing the Tahitian and other dances. He was extremely handsome and used as an extra in several movies being filmed in what was then still the Territory of Hawaii.

Pete had the most beautiful singing voice you can imagine, similar to Brook Benton and I would say even better. I can picture him now strumming the ukulele and singing songs like, Endlessly, Unchained Melody, Nature Boy, any song you named he could play and sing that song. He sung Hawaiian songs of course, or any song that was on the charts at that time. I remember all of us would pile in the old 55 Ford convertible and cruise down Kalakaua (when it was 2-way) and we were all singing El Paso, Pete leading the chorus.

He worked part-time as a cook at a small restaurant called The Doll House, also on Kalakaua Avenue, a tiny upstairs place that had just a few tables. He was usually working alone, working as both cook and server. We were always broke and he'd serve us the best breakfasts you could imagine for free. My two friends and I would go there often. After work he'd come to our place just down the street on Kapahulu Avenue and get some sleep before heading to his night job at Forbidden City.

I lost track of him after I left Hawaii, but he has always been in my memory. I have a picture of him that he gave me that was used when he was working as an extra in Columbia's “The Ghost of the China Sea”.
When I find it, I'll add it here.

Thank you Pete for the love you brought to our family and the memories you gave to all of us.

Love and Aloha,

Joe O'Brien (JoJo)
Friday November 23, 2018
Print All
Recently Shared Stories
Recently Shared Photos
Share by: